Seeing the flock one sheep at a time

[pdavelee]

I was really moved by the story of Pastor Jamie’s “riverbank� experience. There’s a side of me that might have laughed at the plight of the stupid sheep who walked idiotically over a cliff. There’s another side of me that might shake my head in disgust at the sight of the stupid sheep struggling in the predicament she’d gotten herself into. But the heart of the shepherd is to take off his shoes and go after that sheep, even if it means he sinks in the mess that the sheep has created.

It’s not easy to be around people who are struggling with self-inflicted wounds. It’s not easy to tolerate people who defiantly and obstinately ignore all warnings not to keep going as they are only to find themselves in the very mess we’d hoped to spare them from. But God’s heart – the shepherd’s heart – is one that values each sheep no matter how foolish it is. At the end of the day, most of our wounds are self-inflicted, aren’t they?

There’s a man in my life I’ve been trying to “fix� for nearly two decades with very little success. Recently I realized that I am not necessarily called to fix him but to love him, walk with him, and rescue him when I can from his self-inflicted trials. It remains my constant prayer that he will change and grow, but I believe God has put him in my life to remind me how much a shepherd is supposed to care for each individual sheep.